The inside story of Joel Piroe's Swansea City exit and how Leeds United beat Southampton and others to his signature - Wales Online 25/8/23

Joel Piroe's exit from Swansea City was full of twists and turns, but attention will now turn to what comes next

ByTom Coleman

The biggest saga of Swansea City's summer is finally over.

After weeks of speculation, Joel Piroe has brought a hugely successful stint with the Swans to an end, with the striker completing a move to Leeds United on Thursday night.

In the end, it seemed to get over the line pretty quickly, but this was a long, drawn-out episode with all the twists and turns you'd expect a bonafide transfer saga to have. Perhaps we all knew deep down what the outcome would eventually be, though.

After all, a sale has been discussed, on and off, for the best part of a year.

Indeed, there was a pretty heavy expectation last summer that Piroe would be sold, with Leicester City and indeed Leeds among those to enquire about the striker's availability.

Leeds never actually made a formal bid for the Dutchman, while Leicester also seemingly got cold feet about the idea, perhaps baulking at the club's £20million price tag, which in fairness was designed to keep potential suitors at bay.

Piroe stayed, and continued to do what he does best - scoring goals.

But come January, the prospect of a sale was again put on the table, this time with Serie A side Salernitana lurking in the background. It's understood Piroe wasn't overly enamoured by the idea of going there, but it nevertheless focused minds on what might happen when the summer rolled round again.

With the player now heading into the final year of his contract at the club, clearly a moment of reckoning was coming.

The reality of the situation wasn't lost on former Swans chief Julian Winter, who could perhaps see the storm coming on the horizon. He sat down with Piroe's camp in January to discuss what a possible sale might look like, including the terms on offer to the player and his camp in regards to things like one-off fees and player valuation.

The agreement appeared to be that if the right club with the right offer came along, a sale would be actively explored using the terms discussed.

By the time the summer rolled round, a number of clubs were interested, but Winter's departure suddenly muddied the waters, with new sporting director Paul Watson clearly viewing the situation slightly differently to his predecessor, and the terms agreed on between Winter and Piroe's representatives were seemingly taken off the table.

Atalanta, who were previously very keen in the first few weeks of the window, were among those who are believed to have baulked at the revised package on offer from the Swans, which was believed to have valued the player closer to the £20million demanded the previous summer.

Leicester City too, long-term admirers, seemingly gave a lukewarm reaction. At this stage, a sale was a million miles away.

The U-turn also caused cracks to develop in the relationship between the club and Piroe's camp, who were now questioning whether the Swans were actually serious in trying to move the player on.

Things became so strained, that in the week before the season opener with Birmingham City, Piroe's camp informed the club they would not agree to a sale, and that the player would instead stay to see out the final year of his contract.

Was it a serious threat, or a masterful power play? That will be a matter of opinion. Even with hindsight it's not an easy question to answer. But it certainly hammered home the unthinkable prospect of Swansea losing their star striker for nothing later down the line.

Perhaps the discussions over a new deal were seen as a solution. Michael Duff claimed after the League Cup win over Northampton Town that the club were speaking to the player about a possible extension to his contract. Those talks certainly took place, but there was seldom any indication that a renewal was ever really on the cards.

That didn't stop the social media rumour mill from whirring into action, mind. After the draw with Coventry City, rumours grew that the player was about to follow captain Matt Grimes in penning an extension to his deal.

Those rumours were flat-out dismissed by one source, and met by a confused shrug by others. It's understood Piroe told the club he would not be signing just a few days later.

Meanwhile, while the likes of Leicester, Sheffield United and Atalanta had walked away, there were still several clubs in the background keeping an eye on the situation.

Leeds' top brass flew out to the Netherlands 24 hours after the clash with Coventry to discuss possible terms with Piroe's representatives.

There was late interest from Germany too, with Freiburg and Augsburg both making enquiries. There was even tentative interest from German giants Borussia Dortmund, but it later emerged that Piroe was not a key target, and as such the possibility of a move quickly dried up.

Advanced discussions were also held with Southampton chief Paul Wilcox. Indeed, Piroe was initially very enthusiastic about the prospect of moving to the Saints, and the chance to reunite with former boss Russell Martin.

However, the level of effort Leeds made to sign the Netherlands under-20 international proved to be a key factor in persuading him to move to west Yorkshire, with United working round the clock with Piroe's camp this week to thrash out the nitty gritty bits of the deal.

There was initially a concern that the previous stand-off between Piroe's camp and the Swans over the terms of a sale might make a deal more complicated. But Gretar Steinsson's insistence on going straight to City's American owners, rather than through Watson, who had previously been responsible for negotiations, effectively rendered those concerns redundant.

Perhaps wary of the possibility of losing him for nothing, the owners effectively helped move the sale along in a manner they believe suits all parties.

Piroe is now likely to travel with the rest of the Leeds team to Ipswich Town on Saturday, although it's not clear whether he will be involved. In any case, having played every game this season so far for Swansea, fitness is unlikely to be a massive concern, so it surely won't be long before he makes his debut, with the player understood to be relishing the chance to fire Leeds to the Premier League.

It could well be in Swansea's interests for that to happen too.

While the overall structure of the deal, which is believed to be worth around £12million, still isn't 100 per cent clear, the early indications suggest the Swans stand to bank up to £3million in the event Leeds get promoted. There's also understood to be a sell-on fee, although again, the value of that isn't yet clear.

The question now for the Swans will be about what happens next.

The club are already in the process of looking at possible replacements for the Dutchman.

Keinan Davis is the early name to be discussed, having been on the radar under Steve Cooper, but there are likely to be several other names being bandied around.

One thing's for sure, whoever comes in will have very large boots to fill.